World Mission Sunday

A 1922 sketch of Franciscan missionaries, in their simple cassocks, in California. (Wikipedia Commons)

2,000 years ago, Christ told the apostles and disciples to go out and spread the good news despite great risks and sacrifices. The apostles and disciples carried out the order. This is why today we have the Catholic church with more than one billion two hundred million members. The point is that we should continue the work started by St. Peter, St. Paul and the first Christians by words, by actions, and by examples. We should give until it hurts. We give money on World Mission Sunday so that the missionaries can continue the never ending sometimes heartbreaking evangelization work Christ asked us to do a long time ago. The harvest is great. Our 6 billion population today will be 8 billion in 2050 but the workers-missionaries are few. We can follow the Lord’s plea by praying for more missionaries and by giving cash through the mass offerings until it hurts our pockets. Only then will we feel that our own little ways have answered the call to bring the gospel to all parts of the world.